This an excerpt from “Ghosts of the Ostfront”, a series of podcasts by Dan Carlin.

If someone pointed a gun, figuratively or literally, at the head of your child, would you be able to stand up and say “No, I won’t put those people on trains!”?  As much as people say we have to role play defensive violence in our minds so that we know what we are morally and psychologically capable of when we need to defend ourselves or our loved ones, we also need to mentally role play our reactions to creeping totalitarianism or how we would react to societal threats to our loved ones if we don’t get in line.

Like Mr. Carlin, I’d like to think that I would have the ability to stand up for what’s right, but no-one’s pointing a Tokarev or a Luger at Girlie Bear’s head right now.  I think the correct answer is to not let things get to that point in the first place, because the only way to win that particular game is to not play at all.